Taking stern note of institutions running illegal courses without proper permission or infrastructure, the Bombay high court has directed a Bhandara-based college to refund fees to its Master of Education (Med) students and also pay them Rs40,000 as compensation.
The bench was dealing
with a petition filed by Bhandara-based Late Shri Laxmanji Motghare Charitable Trust seeking directions to Rashtra Sant Tukdoji Maharaj Bhandara University to grant affiliation to its M.Ed. course from 2009-10. Though the college received affiliation for the course from 2010-11, it had admitted students since 2009-10 and moved the court after the university declined to regularise the admissions. The bench dismissed the institution’s petition.

“These students have lost their one academic year because of the illegal admissions in breach of the conditions put by the NCTE (National Council for Teachers Education),” observed the Nagpur bench of the high court while directing Late Dr.Arun Motghare Master of Education (M.Ed.) College to compensate all admitted students by paying them Rs40,000 each apart from refunding the course fee.

“It has become a regular practice on the part of the educational institutions to run the classes illegally, admit students illegally without there being any infrastructure,” observed the division bench of justice VC Daga and justice AB Chaudhari. “True facts are not disclosed to the students. False representations are made to them,” the bench said adding, “They are persuaded to take admissions through attractive advertisements.”

The bench took serious view of the increasing tendency and noted that students sometimes get relief, if at all, only out of sympathy. “Now, it has become necessary to arrest this tendency,” observed the judges adding, “This is not possible unless such cases are dealt with an iron hand.”